Hi Danesh - Thanks for your post to the forum and for sharing a good tip on questioning! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Instead of asking the students "do you have any questions?" which sort of implies finality, I usually ask instead "what questions do you have" which seems to always get a better response because the student does'nt feel pressured by feeling that the session is over.
It can be difficult to get students to participate. Aksing open ended questions is an approach that has worked for me in the past. The open ended question cannot be too general though so that students are not guessing about how to answer.
After one student responds to my question I will ask the class if everybody else agrees with what the first student responded or does anybody disagree. Or I may ask if somebody cares to elaborate on what the first student said.
I tend to start with open end questions and encourage class participation in aquiring the answers.
I will ask questions that have the students visualize the experiance I am instructing, for example: If ou were a guest dining in a restauarnat, and you were not greeted after five minutes of being seated, ho would you feel? This often gets responses of personal experiances, and get the class talking.
Hi Betty - Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree - asking the "Why?" question forces your students to think at a higher level than simply giving a memorized answer. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I have success in asking students "Why" questions?
Good approaches. Adult learneres are definitely different than K through 12 and need different approaches for success. (Some of our instructors come from the public school environment and it takes an adjustment.)
I begin by informing the class at the begining of the lecture/demonstration that I will be asking questions randomly of the class at the conclussion of the material presentation, and have found that by simply letting them know that there will be questioning increases class partcipation.
Active learners rarely have to be "tricked" into partcipating in a class discussion, however; many of the less motivated learners require coaxing a little, so I have found that asking easier or simpler questions of theses learners provides them intially with a little success and builds their confidence. As their confidence increases their partcipation in class discussions generally increases as well.
Assign case studies with several thought-provoking questions for all students to ponder for the next class meeting. Re-inforce their more correct answers, analyze the less correct responses, and then build upon those questions for more in-depth discussions.
I have developed pre prepared questions in the lesson plan,& also ad lib questions during a lecture leading to discussion (sometimes getting off track with interesting life experiences that relate to the subject we are discussing. I try to ask questions that will give anyone in the class a chance to answer and encourage all. Using a thread of questions one leading to another.
by asking questions about diseases that related to the system that i teach make the student more participation and enjoy more by answering and ask more questions. and also i put some grades on participation
Hi Jonathan - Group work is almost always an ideal way to get students participating. Comfort levels go up in the smaller groups. Susan
Hi Sahbaa-Another idea that you might want to try to get students to ask questions is to give them the assignment of putting a question on a slip of paper without their name on it. Then you read the questions in class. Susan
After showing the student power point i will ask them if they have questions. If they not have any questios, i will ask my open question and we will make a discussion. My feild related to Mediacal Assistant so i have many question that related to the system that i teach but it is not include in their syllabus. I found that they will understand the subject more and they will ask more questions.
I use questions to confirm with what I'm teaching in class.
I agree with this strategy. Making things relative and relevant to individual students really engages them more.
I teach both day and night classes and the ages vary greatly. I have had to use multiple techniques. Sometimes video works but to really get them involved I break the class into small groups and give each group a related project that they will have to act out in front of the class. Knowing they will be in front of their classmates is a great way to get involvement.
I try my best to know something about each student individually. If at all possible I relate the subject matter to the student, then ask the question. I have learned that the student will spend a good deal more time and effort on answering my questions if they are a part of the material--or if can benefit them in some way.
